Dramatic DDT

Both Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega have been keeping DDT fans up to date on their preparations for their KO-D Title match at the 15th Anniverary Show in Budokan Hall this Saturday. Both of the Golden Lovers held seperate public practice sessions over the last two days to demonstrate their progress.

First up was Kota Ibushi’s session held yesterday inside a dojo in Chiba. With a mountain of crash pads piled up inside the ring, Ibushi used Gota Ihashi as a crash test dummy and found numerous ways to spike Ihashi onto his head and neck. The most deadly moves used were the 24 Years Old (Orange Crush), a Razor’s Edge and a Top Rope Piledriver. Unsurprisingly, Ibushi eventually broke Ihashi and had to drag a discouraged Ken Ohka into the ring to finish off the session. And he finished it off with a Top Rope Phoenix Plex, breaking Ohka in the process.

Afterwards, Ibushi took some questions from the press in attendence. When asked about the moves he demonstrated, Ibushi said none were ever used on Omega and it will be quite a challenge to pull them off in the match. They are also moves he either rarely uses or haven’t used regularly at matches in years. However, since he is able to perform such powerful moves on a heavy wrestler like Ihashi, then he will be able to do them on the smaller wrestler like Omega. Ibushi feels the pressure being in the main event and does not expect a short and decisive battle. However, Ibushi has a lot of moves in his arsenal, some of which he is keeping secret from the public.

When Ihashi and Ohka finally regained conciousness the press asked them how painful the moves felt. Ohka said they will be much more dangerous without the mats in the ring. When asked where he feels the most damage, Ohka exclaimed “You know! The neck.” Ihashi complained about his body feeling numb and said it was not the first time he was rendered unconcious by Ibushi during his training. When asked who will win the match, both men said Ibushi.

Kenny Omega’s public session was held today in a Saitama gym. Omega was accompanied by professional fighters Isamu Sugiuchi and Jason Geiger. Omega said he took up Jiu-Jitsu specifically to target Ibushi’s weak shoulder along with developing a good ground defence and a counter for Ibushi’s leg sweeps. Omega and Sugiuchi sparred in the ring where Omega was able to outwrestle his partner and put him in a Cross Armbreaker.

When the sparring ended, Omega then talked about building up his body and his stamina with weight training. He lifted weights in a similar way to lifting opponents for the Croyt’s Wrath and followed that with the Barbell Curl and the Clean & Press. Omega said his abs were his weakness so he did these exercises to strengthen his abs and back.

Omega also took questions from the press when the session came to an end. He said he originally began training in Jiu-Jitsu back in 2004 but took a break in 2008. Today was the first time in a long time he got to train Jiu-Jitsu again. He wanted to train with Geiger because he is a champion from Canada. When asked if this style of training was only being done for the match against Ibushi, Omega said his days of training back in Canada during the summer has conditioned him to tough sessions like this and he could go on for 60 minutes. Omega also said that although he has strong moves like the Croyt’s Wrath and One-Winged Angel, he is thinking of adding all sorts of submissions to win rather than just throw out his usual techniques. Omega isn’t feeling any pressure and doesn’t find the position he is in scary at all. However, Ibushi is his friend and he does not want to injure him. He dedicates the match to all fans of DDT and promises to win the belt and have the best match.

Isamu Sugiuchi said that he met Kenny for the first time when he wrestled at a DDT just over one year ago. He called Omega an amazing talent and was surprised at how powerful he is in the ring. Jason Geiger said that Omega has been focused for a long time and is filled with more power and stamina than he has ever seen. He also said that Ibushi better have trained hard.